A Case Study of Transmission Limits on Renewables Growth in Texas

This paper explores the interplay between projected renewable energy additions onto the electricity grid in Texas operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the region’s existing electrical transmission network.

Without expanding ERCOT’s electrical transmission network and storage capacity, congestion and curtailments will rise. Curtailments are due to both inadequate transmission capacity and surplus generation during high availability periods of variable renewable generation.

Transmission system upgrades could reduce some curtailments that arise from transmission capacity limitations. But curtailments resulting from surplus generation cannot be mitigated by transmission system upgrades and storage. With the addition of variable renewable generating …

Hydropower Value Drivers

In April 2019, WPTO launched the HydroWIRES Initiative to understand, enable, and improve hydropower and pumped storage hydropower’s (PSH’s) contributions to reliability, resilience, and integration in the rapidly evolving U.S. electricity system. The unique characteristics of hydropower, including PSH, make it well suited to provide a range of storage, generation flexibility, and other grid services to support the cost-effective integration of variable renewable resources. The U.S. electricity system is rapidly evolving, bringing both opportunities and challenges for the hydropower sector. While increasing deployment of variable renewables such as wind and solar have enabled low-cost, clean energy in many U.S. regions, …

Winter Storm Elliott: Event Analysis and Recommendation Report

Winter Storm Elliott hit the eastern United States over the Dec. 23–25 weekend and tested the reliability of much of the Eastern Interconnection. Precipitous temperature drops and powerful winds caused widespread generator failures and froze up natural gas supplies while driving up electricity demand, leading to power outages in some of PJM’s neighbors.

PJM and its members were able to maintain the reliability of the system, serve customers and even support neighboring systems during some periods, which was a significant accomplishment. Specifically, PJM operators were able to avoid electricity interruptions throughout this event. Nevertheless, PJM operators had to implement multiple …

Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear

These Pathways to Commercial Liftoff reports aim to establish a common fact base and ongoing dialogue with the private sector around the path to commercial liftoff for critical clean energy technologies. Their goal is to catalyze more rapid and coordinated action across the full technology value chain.

U.S. domestic nuclear capacity has the potential to scale from ~100 GW in 2023 to ~300 GW by 2050—driven by deployment of advanced nuclear technologies. Advanced nuclear includes a range of proven and innovative technologies and provides a differentiated value proposition for a decarbonized grid. To unlock deployment at scale, Nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) advanced …

10 Facts About All-Electric New Buildings

The benefits of electrifying New York State can’t be overstated. All-electric buildings are healthier, more energy-efficient, and more affordable for families and households. All-electric buildings are also crucial for cutting carbon pollution. To meet the state’s 2030 and 2050 emission reduction mandates, most buildings must use electric heat pumps for heating and cooling, and for hot water. Passing the All-Electric Buildings Act is the easiest, most doable first step toward decarbonization.

But the gas industry has a vested interest in making electrification seem as impractical and unnecessary as possible, in New York and across the country. They’re working overtime to …

Energy Transition in PJM: Resource Retirements, Replacements & Risks

Driven by industry trends and their associated challenges, PJM developed the following strategic pillars to ensure an efficient and reliable energy transition: facilitating decarbonization policies reliably and cost-effectively; planning/operating the grid of the future; and fostering innovation. In support of these strategic objectives, PJM is continuing a multiphase effort to study the potential impacts of the energy transition. The first two phases of the study focused on energy and ancillary services and resource adequacy in 2035 and beyond. This third phase focuses on resource adequacy in the near term through 2030. Maintaining an adequate level of generation resources, with the …

National Transmission Needs Study

A robust transmission system is critical to the Nation’s economic, energy, and national security. The electric grid continues to face challenges from aging infrastructure and insufficient transmission capacity. The U.S. Department of Energy undertakes this National Transmission Needs Study (Needs Study) to identify needs that could be alleviated by transmission solutions. Findings of this Needs Study will inform the Department of Energy as it coordinates the use of its authorities and funding related to electric transmission, including implementing the many grid resilience and technology investment provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. The Needs Study …

The Benefit and Urgency of Planned Offshore Transmission

This report first lays out the urgent case for proactively and holistically planning transmission solutions for the nation’s increasingly ambitious offshore wind goals. Section II reviews existing studies that document the benefits of proactive planning and quantifies the economic, environmental, and reliability benefits offered by carefully planned offshore wind transmission solutions. Section III summarizes barriers that currently prevent the realization of these benefits. Section IV recommends specific steps that states, grid operators, the federal administration and key federal agencies, and industry stakeholders need to take to create a pathway for no-regrets grid solutions that allows achieving near- and long-term offshore …

Evolution of Power Market Structures and Remuneration

This paper discusses the following key building blocks for successful competitive power markets to effectively help incentivize the needed characteristics of the changing mix of electric power technology, adequately pay for this investment, and help ensure a reliable, stable and resilient power grid.

1) Maintain wholesale energy markets based on locational marginal costs, either zonal or extended to nodal, to be paid to participating resources at the marginal market price, the last accepted offer.

2) Implement forward capacity markets or capacity remuneration schemes to pay for demonstrated, dependable capacity for required durations to provide signals for resource adequacy and sufficient …

Pathways to Net-Zero for the US Energy Transition

What will it take to achieve a net-zero carbon emissions footprint for the US economy by 2050? This report from Energy Pathways USA helps strengthen the evidence base on what will be required for a robust US energy transition and elucidates key barriers and opportunities for reaching net-zero goals.

The authors examine past and present emissions trends and highlight common threads across recent quantitative analyses of potential net-zero trajectories, identifying sectors and shifts that could significantly boost decarbonization. Transforming the electricity grid—with clean energy production, increased high-voltage transmission, and grid modernization for resilience and reliability—is critical to all of these …